35 Times People Wished They Could Undo An Action That Adversely Affected Their Quality Of Life

When we are young, we take many things for granted. However, despite our own conviction in our invincibility, our physical bodies, mental health and soul take a beating from our choices and the resulting experiences of life. Recently, Redditors dived into a candid discussion about simple decisions they made that inadvertently ruined their quality of life. The thought-provoking answers bring to light the negative effects that could have been easily avoided if only people had known of the consequences of their actions before making committing themselves. 

#1

Image source: Tick_agent, Thomas Park / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Working at an animal shelter.

psychochihuahualover:

As a former animal shelter worker, 100% agree. It broke me.

#2

Image source: AvailableBreeze_3750, Kevin Woblick / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I was jumping on our kids’ trampoline and I hurt my back and I’ve suffered sciatica pain all these years since. My life would be so much better if I had not thought jumping on a trampoline would be good exercise.

#3

Image source: Ready-Issue190, Daniel / unsplash (not the actual photo)

This will sound glib but I’m going to say it:

Moving to a city in Texas.

A better way of saying it “no matter the promotion or the amount of money: Never move somewhere where the general and sum total ideological or political belief system does not align in any way with your own. .

#4

Image source: Cannanda, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Getting fat. As someone with ADHD who already struggled to feel comfortable sitting, having extra weight on my legs made it even harder to sit. I’ve lost 55lbs so far, more to go, but I feel so much more comfortable now. I also have far less nerve pain, it’s easier to exercise (which helps reduce pain), and sleep better. You never realize just how much being overweight decreases your quality of life.

#5

Image source: leprechanmonkie, Mitchel Lensink / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Going to prison at 19 for selling w**d.

In the end it worked out, I’ve since graduated college and have a nice engineering job and great life. It was a rough patch in my life for sure.

Freezing stuck in a prison cell in Joliet for 77 days, went weeks without showers or seeing sunlight. Then shipped off to bootcamp for 4.5 months to be further denigrated. In the end it caused me to grow up and prioritize what I want in life. Worked and paid my way through a 2 year community college, followed with a MIS degree at a 4 yr University.

Life hasn’t been perfect, but I always have perspective on a “bad day” in that I’ve had it much worse.

#6

Image source: peeledpotatoesss, Francisco De Legarreta C. / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Fall for the romanticized idea of overworking, overachieving and ignoring my health related red flags as a sign of virtue and strength. I felt so proud about not getting enough sleep or food, not letting illnesses stop me and working my a*s off. At the end I never got actually recognized for any of it and completely blew my health at only 24, now I can’t do half of what I could do before and lost so much time of my prime years trying too hard instead of being a happier person.

#7

Image source: NeonPinkBag, Michael Heise / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Social media. It has seriously messed with my attention span. And I can’t even remember how to enjoy free time without checking it every five minutes.

#8

Image source: Verlin_Wayne, Andres Siimon / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Smoked.

PathOfTheAncients:

They say after 10 years of not smoking your odds of health problems return to near normal.

I am 10 years out as of this month. Started running the day I quit. At first I couldn’t go the length of a city block without having to stop and walk. Now I run hundreds of miles every year and every time I am tempted by a cigarette I just think about how much it would ruin my running.

If anyone reading this is trying to quit, keep trying. It took me a bunch of attempts before I was able to get there.

#9

Image source: sylphdreamer, Toa Heftiba / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Worked 12 hour days for a job that wasn’t worth it.

#10

Image source: spiralstream6789, Hrant Khachatryan / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Thinking that romantic love is more important than anything else and that I need a man to be complete.

#11

Image source: Sad_Fee_4104, Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Neglect my body for years.
Almost no movement. Rather poor hygiene. Horrible food.
And little to no sleep.

DiecastKiwi:
Start walking everyday and keep adding ten minutes to make it a solid hour, stop eating processed and packaged food you will bounce back.

Sad_Fee_4104:
That’s basically how I started.
Even 11 minutes stairwalking caused anywhere from mild to “tears down my face in pain” headaches
Slow steady walks. A year. Until a general practicioner gave me the greenlight to start hitting the gym.
Another year of painstakingly slow progress later: Only regular headaches which I can almost always wave away with a big fat smile.

#12

Image source: Brave_Calendar_941, Jakob Owens / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Trying to impress people who don’t GAF about you.

figgynewton1:
Amen. I feel like this is a lesson that one will learn over and over again. I find myself doing this in different settings, with a different crowd, in a different mindset. Always in a cycle of learning and relearning.

#13

Image source: ImpactSmooth299, Karolina Grabowska / unsplash (not the actual photo)

GET INTO DEBT!!!

#14

Image source: organicbooger, Aditya Chinchure / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Not wearing ear plugs at concerts.

#15

Image source: Actual-Push7624, Luke Porter / unsplash (not the actual photo)

I ignored that voice in my head telling me to distance myself from my family ASAP. Was a teenager when I started thinking about it, and I ignored it and, as I grew older, suppressed it… I thought it was just me being “dramatic” and reacting in an emotional way (like my family would say). 18 years later I finally went no-contact and have spent half my time feeling so free and light and happy, and the other half grieving for the time lost denying that voice.

When it comes to our individual survival, we gotta trust our instincts and intuition. Every d**n time.

#16

Image source: ghostbustrnutclustr, Mihail Tregubov / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Bulimia for 15 years since I was a teen. All because my mom put me through weight watchers as a kid because I was a little chubby. Never felt thin enough.

Ruined my teeth and digestive health. 10/10 do not recommend.

Dry-Blueberry-8226:
I’m so sorry 😞
Body image issues can be so devastating…and they linger, boy do they linger.
Best medicine for me (not bulimic but suffered from severe dysmorphia for many years as a young man) was to find something physical that I was remotely good at and become better. Now, between how I eat and what I do with my body, I know objectively I look damn good (lol), but still have trouble eating out with freinds…
Hang in there.

#17

Image source: obstreperousRex, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Tried to show off, ended up destroying the lowest 5 vertebrae in my back and now I’m nearly crippled.

I picked up a very heavy object that I had no business picking up and, since there were people around, I didn’t immediately put the damned thing down. My lumbar region went cold and then numb. At that point I knew I screwed up. The pain began the next day.

I damaged multiple vertebra. Caused the discs to basically, squirt out the sides. Once that happened the nerves going out of my foramen became crushed by the bones.

One failed surgery later I get to have constant pain, weakness, and instability that prevents me from doing a great many things that I once loved.

I tell younger people that if you want to screw up your quality of life, damage your back. because once its damaged, its damaged for life.

#18

Image source: Time_Job_8836, Yunus Tuğ / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Trusting in wrong “friends”

But then again, we learn by mistakes.

#19

Image source: lilybrixton, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Spent so many years obsessing over other peoples lives, celebrities especially.

DamnitGravity:
Living vicariously through others or daydreaming is so poisonous.
-Sincerely, Maladaptive Daydreamer.

#20

Image source: Funkyp0tat0chip, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Holding out for a management position instead of moving on. He simply won’t retire. The man is mid 70’s.

#21

Image source: Bugsy_A, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Went nomadic as a full-time RVer. It was easy to sell off everything and drive away but when the RV got totalled, I found myself homeless and it took years to get back to a normal way of life with my meager funds.

#22

Image source: sonofzell, Terrillo Walls / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Bought an HOA-governed condo in Florida.

#23

Image source: Ok-East-8412, Luke Thornton / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Vaped. Been 9 months without it and still cough and get winded easily. Used to sing as well and I can’t hit notes for s**t these days.

#24

Image source: StatisticianNew9189, Jimmy Conover / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Not chosing a second cesarean after the first emergency one. During the birth of my second child my levator ani (“pelvic floor muscle”) ruptured, making it no longer connected to wherever it should be attached to. I did not even know this was a major risk with vaginal births after a cesarean and quite frankly did not know that that could happen at all. Now I might not be able to jump, jog, run or walk fast in my life ever again without my organs quite literally falling out of me. This not only nuked all of my Volleyball activities (which was my primary hobby and I played fourth league in Germany) but it also left me with an extremely weak bladder. Talk about quality of life. And the real kicker? There simply is no way of attaching the muscle back to where it belongs. This is the current state of research and medical procedure. So I can really say “Bye!” to any form of active lifestyle.

#25

Image source: SororitySue, Andrej Lišakov / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Stayed in my college major even after I knew it wasn’t for me. I wasted a lot of time that I can never get back.

#26

Image source: Genderneutralbro, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Slept less to keep up w school and work. At one point i was sleeping around 3 hrs a night, and falling alseep at the wheel regularly. Its been 10 years and i still have problems from this period of sleep deprevation.

Kids, dont sacrifice your sleep. Turns out you need it.

#27

Image source: OkAccess6128, MARCO DIAZ / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Spent years to impress the girl I like, I should have given that attention to my own self instead to improve my life.

MrLanesLament:
I fortunately got this impulse out of my system before I left school.
I completely fell for someone who had zero interest in me. To this day, I can’t figure out why I kept trying. Kept trying to be a guy she’d like; to be into the same interests she was; kept trying to invite her to stuff she probably had no interest in.
It. Was. Dumb.
If someone doesn’t like you immediately, put even an ounce of further effort in at your own peril. 99% of the time, you are wasting your time; not only that, but there’s also a good chance it will have the opposite effect and repel them.
I’ve had numerous good relationships since then; in each case, the person expressed interest in me very quickly. There’s no other way for it to happen IMO.

#28

Image source: Impressive-Dog-408, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Went rock climbing one day without a helmet on. The first time I didn’t have it on was the day it needed to be. A Severe TBI is an injury I wish upon no man, woman or child. 🥴.

#29

Image source: ashoka_akira, Caique Morais / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Stayed in a long term relationship with someone struggling with a*******n and alcoholism because I saw the a*******ns as a type of mental illness, and what sort of partner would I be if I abandoned him when he was sick?

Then, I had my first serious illness since we had met, and missed a lot of work, had to stay home for almost a month, and he was unemployed at this time. He started to get very obviously irritated with me; for being home all day so he didn’t have any alone time, for making him feel the pressure of returning to work because I wasn’t working so I wasn’t bringing in any income. I suddenly had this moment of clarity where I realized he was the only one allowed to be sick in our dynamic, and while I had been playing nurse for years, he really didn’t like when I got to be sick—as if it was a choice—especially when it interfered with his routine. I left him a few months later when my health improved.

He passed away about a year later, as his health deteriorated rapidly after I stopped caring for him. I definitely feel some guilt in the matter even though I know I can’t blame myself for the poor choices of an adult man who was almost in his 50s.

#30

Image source: Ball2daW-all, Alexey Sviridkin / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Dwelling on the past.

#31

Image source: Hangytangy, Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Being understanding when someone treats/talks/screams at you like s**t. Dont stand for it.

#32

Image source: Snowfall1201, A. C. / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Skipped the mammograms cause I had a “it’ll never happen to me” attitude when I was younger. Now I’m laying on a bed at a breast center waiting to get 5 biopsies for suspicious spots.

#33

Image source: Ok-Butterfly6862, Luan Cabral / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Was born and raised in high demand religion I wish I had the courage to leave earlier.

#34

Image source: Impressive_Term4071, Mira Kireeva / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Attempted s*****e through car accident.

Did NOT get result i was looking for (at the time…no worries, i’m all good now, therapy, meds, etc.) just ended up with a bunch of f****d up bones, enough metal holding me together to qualify as a runner up for the Bionic Man, missing teeth, permanent jaw pain, a limp, and a little bit of brain damage causing periodic absence seizures.

0/10 would NOT RECOMMEND.

#35

I didn’t go to the dentist for a few years in my 20s. No one was making me any more, and it was just a pain to schedule things. I thought I was doing all right. Turns out, I wasn’t. Had to deal with a lot of issues connected to that poor choice. Still dealing with them a little bit because I have to be vigilant and my dental checkups are a little more expensive because of it.

Kids, and young adults, don’t skip the dental appointments. Trust me. .

Image source: Funandgeeky